Sen. Manchin calls on Obama to work with Congress on gun control

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," January 7, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: All right, a huge sell-off today that continues the huge sell-off this week, for four days, the worst the Dow has ever seen in its history.

Yet, maybe a case of odd timing, the president is going to be on CNN tonight at a town hall forum on gun control.

Senator Joe Manchin has no issues addressing the gun control issue. He does have a problem with the way the president is going about it, via executive action.

The Democratic senator from the fine state of West Virginia joins us now on the phone.

So, Senator, you agree with a lot of what the president wants to do, I guess not the way he wants to do it. Right?

SEN. JOE MANCHIN, D-W.VA.: Neil, right. Here's the thing.

I understand the president's frustration. I do. And I have been an executive. I have been governor of my state. And there's a lot of times I was frustrated with my legislator. But I understand the three branches of government very well.

And I still, for major policy changes, had to work harder, more diligently, and take more time to make sure that I have my message coming across loud and clear, and I would go into the districts and into the areas of the people that I needed their support, to support those legislators who vote for something that was needed.

And with that being said, I just think that's the way the process should work. I -- the Manchin-Toomey bill has been vetted for three years, Neil. And gun owners and Democrats and Republicans alike support what we have done, because it's a commonsense approach.

We take basically at face value every gun own should be a law-abiding citizen and a law-abiding gun owner. And we're not going to sell our guns to strangers, to criminals, to people that are insane. We won't even give our gun to a friend or a family member that is not responsible.

With that being said, that is what we should be doing. But under commercial transactions, when you go to a gun show, you don't know that person, or on the Internet and a transaction where it doesn't require a background check, it should be required. That's all.

CAVUTO: Well, what has happened to your legislation? Because the president, you argue a lot of his points. If there's legislation out there, who stymied it? Who stopped it?

MANCHIN: We need Republican support.

CAVUTO: And you don't have it, do you?

(CROSSTALK)

MANCHIN: We have four Republicans. John McCain has been with us.

CAVUTO: Right.

MANCHIN: Of course, Pat Toomey is a co-sponsor of the bill will me, Susan Collins and Mark Kirk.

CAVUTO: But, you see, what the president is saying -- I'm not casting aspersions either way, sir -- but that, with those numbers, we get nowhere, so he's saying, I have got to take action on my own.

MANCHIN: Well, that's -- you know what? I have been in that situation as governor before, too.

CAVUTO: Right.

MANCHIN: I bring people over to the governor's mansion, we sit down and we talk, we have breakfast, we would have lunch, we would have dinner, we would work it hard. I would go into the districts.

And the only thing I'm saying, what the president is doing tonight is exactly what -- should be doing, town hall meetings. You should be going to a Republican state, explaining the bill. I would be happy to explain the bill. One you explain the bill, it sells itself.

The bottom line is, people are afraid that government will go too far.

CAVUTO: All right.

MANCHIN: They don't trust government. That's the problem.

And our Republican friends should not be afraid of getting not elected because they vote for common sense that most of their constituents would support.

CAVUTO: All right. Senator, you raise a lot of good ideas. There's more common ground here than people realize.

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